5 traits of the House freshman class

It wasn’t a wave election, but the 2012 races will sweep in an outsize freshman class nonetheless.

The 113th Congress will welcome at least 79 new House members — 44 Democrats, 35 Republicans. That total would grow to 85 new faces in the House if current results in still-uncalled races hold. It will be the largest freshman class of the past dozen years, aside from the 89-member class elected in November 2010.

Text Size

-

+

reset

The newest members knocked out more than 20 incumbents. But a large number of retirements and redistricting in key states also helped bring fresh blood to the Capitol. California alone will be responsible for 11 new members in the House.

“The message is that the country seems split right down the middle, and voters were looking to elect people who were a little less ideological and more pragmatic,” Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chairman Steve Israel said in an interview Thursday.

Here are POLITICO’s five traits of the incoming class of House freshmen.

THE CHANGING FACE OF THE HOUSE

Next year’s House Democratic Caucus will achieve a significant milestone: the first in which women and minorities make up the majority.

Democratic gains will boost Latino ranks in the House with at least eight new members: Tony Cárdenas, Gloria Negrete McLeod and Juan Vargas of California; Joe Garcia of Florida; Michelle Lujan Grisham of New Mexico; and Joaquin Castro, Pete Gallego and Filemon Vela of Texas. Another Latino candidate, Democrat Raul Ruiz, is leading Republican Rep. Mary Bono Mack in Southern California.

“It is truly a coming of age,” retiring Rep. Charles Gonzalez (D-Texas), chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, said in an interview Thursday. “And I think you’re going to start seeing that in the following elections.”

This cycle saw the highest number of Asian-American congressional candidates in history, and those efforts paid off: Grace Meng of New York, Tammy Duckworth of Illinois, Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii and Mark Takano of California all won their bids. Another Asian-American candidate — Ami Bera — was on the verge of defeating GOP Rep. Dan Lungren in California.

The Congressional Black Caucus will welcome five new members: Donald Payne Jr. of New Jersey, Marc Veasey of Texas, Hakeem Jeffries of New York, Steven Horsford of Nevada and Joyce Beatty of Ohio. Horsford will be the first black congressman from the Silver State.

And the incoming class of House freshmen will have three openly gay members, all Democrats: Mark Takano of California; Sean Patrick Maloney of New York and Mark Pocan of Wisconsin. Another Democratic candidate — Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona — would be the first openly bisexual member of Congress. She is currently leading in her yet-undeclared race.

Even with Massachusetts Rep. Barney Frank retiring and Wisconsin Rep. Tammy Baldwin winning a seat to the Senate, those gains will mean the highest number ever of openly gay members in the House.

Troll Rove is quoted as saying the Obama won the election by suppressing the vote of the Republican base by beating Romney up.

The truth: Obama won my expanding the voting base and suppressing Karl Rove's insidious tactics and now the troll has egg (or something else) all over his face and is trying to salvage a shred of credibility. Maybe he can get with Dick Morris in a cumbaya duet.

#1 Get voters on a calling spree, mail-out-spree, email-spree, sign wearing march-on-Local GOP Officies and inform House Reps that even Republican Districts Voted To Let Top 1% Rates Expire to "Chip-in" a "More-Balanced-Rate/Share" of Debt Caused via Capital Gains/Hedge Wealth; thus, increase their own Millionair-Tax Payments (Just a Smidgen and Less Than They All Spent in 2012-Elections.)

#2 Get Global Oil Corporate Boards "ON Board" w/ending subsidies to their more than adequate profits

#3 Get "Senior Citizens" On Board w/ "Means-Testing" f/Medicare

#4 Get "Lawyers" On Board w/ some adjustments to "TORT" (ie decreases Doctor's Insurance Costs) OK, you Liberals don't like it but ALL must get in the "Barber's Chair" ALL must get this "Haircut"

#5 Get "SBA" to draft a real small-business growth plan with an eye on "Innovation Not Hedge-Funds"

#6 Get All Energy Companies To Agree and Perform "Cost/Benefit Analysis w/Impact Statement" For "New US Elecxtrical GRID being Built Alongside Infrastructure Projects "

#7 Get All Higher/Trade Education-Institutions On Board w/ an "Education-Partnership w/Industries Needing Specific Skills" (ie as we did when IBM/Honeywell/CDC all trained f/new Computer Industry Workers)

Mr President,

Your leverage is w/Voters, not Congress; thus, as Scripture says, " . . . use what is given."

Keep your Focus,

ghost cricket

Sidebar: [ Of course eop must at least "Offer the plan to Eric and Speaker Boehner" via Democratic Leadership; yet, the tenor of language by Speaker Boehner indicates you must turn to 2014 Mid-terms as threat.]

Just please let us pray this new group are worker bees who spent their time on the floor....the crowd that bellowed on Fox News was annoying and while they claimed to be idealogues--they were a lazy bunch..........We need people working to get this country back on track....Faux News won't do that--neither will MSNBC..........Skip the rantings and just do your job please......

Well just as long as they've elected someone who is more of a bullying ranting lunatic than Joe Walsh was, or an clueless malicious doorpost like Allen West. Both kicked to the curb and both destined to go down in congressional history as benchmarks of mediocrity. But of course we always have Bachmann.

In the vernacular of our Native American brothers, I would designate our congress and senate as: “White and Colored men and women with many wires down!” I can only Hope that the “New Arrivals” will see to the “Re-stringing” of these wires!